Nightweaver

Gr 9 Up–In a world where humans were forced out to sea centuries ago, Aster Oberon has never known life on land. When her family of pirates is attacked by an enemy Nightweaver ship and her eldest brother murdered by an Underling, the Oberon family finds themselves not only saved from the gallows by Will, the son of a wealthy Nightweaver family, but thrust into their employ. Aster struggles with adjusting to life on land as a kitchen maid, as well as her long-held beliefs and hatred towards Nightweavers. She begins to develop feelings for Will as he helps her hunt down the Underling that murdered her brother. But dark secrets begin to unravel the closer she gets to her revenge, threatening everything she thought she knew about her world. This novel is a classic case of over-promise and under-deliver. It starts out action-packed but quickly falls into a deep lull of exposition and info-dumping; it struggles to find its footing before picking up again towards the conclusion. Gray never truly explains what the Nightweavers and Underlings are, and readers can become preoccupied with puzzling out these vampire-meets-fallen-angel humanoids. The host of characters are developed enough to carry the weight of the story, but the romance between Aster and Will feels incredibly forced. The plot twists are not overly obvious and are enjoyable. The narrative has the markers of many beloved tropes of the romantasy genre and ends on a cliffhanger.